TRAINS COLLIDE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 36, 5 November 1937, Page 5

TRAINS COLLIDE

-Press Association.)

— - m Head-on Smash HEAP OF WRECKAGE Four Injured in Auckland Accident ■ .. _ v t BRAKE FAILURE THE CAVSE

(By Telegraph-

AUCKLAND, Last Night; Four persbns were injured and thf front portions of two trains were reduced to a mass of tangled debris whea they met in a . violent head-on collisioa near the Parnell overbridge abqut 409 yards south of tha' Auckland station at • 9.17 to-night. The accident decurred when a goods train returning to Auckland from Newmarket became out of Control and crashed into s mixed goods' and passenger train outward bound for Henderson.' The injured were:— % HAROLD MACKY, aged 33. married, of Newton, a shunter on the train' from Newmarket, who suffered injuries to the groin and hip. He was admitted to the hospxtal and his condition is not seriotuL. FREDERICK. EDWIN HENRY ONGLEY, aged 41, married, of Poinfc Chevalier. a shunter xiding in the engine of the same train, who suffered conchSsion and a severn cut under the right eye. Several stxtches were inserted- in the cut and the Injured man was admitted to hospital. His condition is re'garded as not serious, HERBERT EEID, driver of the train for Henderson, .who suffered slight facial wounds. JACK MUIR, aged about 36, marriejl, of Broadway, Newmarket^ a fireman on the train from Newmarket, who jumped ciear just before thq crash and rolled down the embankment. He xieeivfd nutnerous abrasions and bruises and suffered badly.from shock. After treatme'nt at the St. John Ambulance Station he was able to return to his home, a woman passenger also waS taken to the Auckland Hospital suffering' from shock but after "Treatmeut in the casualty department -she wde able to proeeed to her home. ' - Resounding Crash. A few yar.ds from the gpot .where the coljision occurred a double line eomxaenccs, but the outwafd-bound train. had not reached the crossover when a pxercing and prolonged whistle was heard from the line ahead. The driver redu'cCd speed, knoWing that another train approachxng at increasing speed down the fairly steep gra.dient wa's experiencing brake trouble apd was giving the aeknowle.dged warmng to other traffie. It was impossible to avert a collision aud within eight of thq Auckland station the two tauk locoiuotivas met with a resounding crash. The two engines wero locked completely and were wedged sd. tightly that it was later found nepessary to brqak them apart by meaus of acetyleua welders,' Behind the outward-bound locomotiva ihe first of the rake of hearily-}aden wagons was standing on its end and beh'ind it a etring of trucks Was piled oue against the other. However, much greater damage was done-to the rolling Btock drawn by the other train, aud here the wreckage was indescribable. . 1 Pigs Had to Be Killed. . Two wagons were standing up bn end and another nine were smashed. Pigs in the trucks were injured and some had to be killed. The line 5 was completely blockcd, several wagons being thrown off the line .down a 20-foot embankment. A breakdowtt gang was hurriedly made up, taxis being despAtched throughout the suburbe to obtain men, A determined start to clear the. wreckage was made at midnight in the eerie light bf flares and small lamps, but no indication could be given as to when thq work would be completed. In the meaiitime all services have been diverted around the Orakei route. Mr H. C. Couch, district traffio manager, said the inward-bound train got out of control and, while it was impossible to state the cause , at the present time, it was probably due to brake f ailure. (